Uchinaru : On The Inside
by Aoikami Sarah
Summary: Sakura and Inner Sakura, two parts of one girl in conflict. Can they come together to save Sasuke? And is Sasuke also hiding something On The Inside? [Completed]
1. Default Chapter

**Honokuni Monogatari - "Fire Country Stories"**

**Uchinaru - "On The Inside"**

**By Aoi Kami Sarah **

_This fic was written before chapter 235's Sasuke vs. Naruto fight. Please assume that the events of this fic diverge from what will happen in Kishimoto's Naruto from there on._

**Chapter 1**

_'Sakura!'_

"Five AM," she muttered, clutching the clock. 'Why is it always five AM?'

_'Sakura! Time to get up!'_

'If we're so close, couldn't you wake me up at nine? Or eight even?'

_'Sakura, you lazy sack of shit get up right now!!!'_

"I'M UP!" Sakura shouted. Her voice echoed off the paper-thin walls of her apartment. "Shit. Neighbors won't like that too much." She slid out of bed and stretched. This week the 16 year old was on guard duty, something all Chuunin had to do at one point or another. She couldn't help but think that her supposed mentor, Tsunade had assigned her to such a menial task to get her out of the way for a while. Sakura flicked on the greenish fluorescent light in the bathroom and pouted into the mirror. "Maybe I should grow my hair out again. Short hair makes me look way too old." Sakura made a seal with her hands and her hair appeared longer. Playing idly with it for a moment, she studied her falsified appearance before sighing, dispelling the vanity jutsu, and getting dressed.

---

Just after Sakura arrived at the sentry post, Ibiki gave them their orders. A set of guards at the east gate had fallen before a set of intruders. Not knowing their ages, rank or even village affiliation, her Leaf Nin team gave chase hoping to capture and question the enemy. They bounded through the canopy. Branch to branch they leapt hardly making a sound.

"Three of them." The team leader sniffed the air and nodded. "Like us, two men, one woman. No injuries." His comrades followed at a short distance so as not to disrupt his smell-perception. "Akamaru should catch up to them in a minute."

"Who do you think they are, Kiba?" the other man asked. "The Inuzuka family's abilities are so finely attuned that you probably have a sense of where they originated from."

Kiba frowned. "Thanks for the ego-boost, Lee, but all I smell is swamp, probably on their shoes or pants. They might be from the northeast."

"Northeast…" the woman repeated. "You don't think…?"

"Sakura-san…" Lee whispered.

"Yeah," Kiba agreed. "They're our only enemies from that area right now unless someone's going to great lengths to seem like they're from the Hidden Sound."

"If they were trying to pretend," Lee added, "they'd have been more obvious, wouldn't they?"

Kiba fell silent and debated sending one of his party back for reinforcements. They didn't know what they were up against yet. He pushed on and grinned. "It's ok," he said out loud. "We've got four nin to their three, right?"

At last they came to a small stream and met up with the medium sized white dog. His hackles were raised and he growled at the water. "A trap, eh Akamaru?" Kiba asked his faithful friend. A lilting sound floated on the breeze, almost as if the reeds in the water were playing a tune. Lee and Kiba relaxed. Akamaru looked to his master with a soft whimper and Sakura gasped. She made three seals with her hands and closed her eyes. A shimmering bubble of protection sprang up around them allowing Kiba and Lee to snap out of it.

"Genjutsu?" Lee asked. Sakura nodded and the enemy attacked.

A woman with flowing wrappings like a mummy leapt out of the trees behind them, but neglected to see that the dog had not been delayed by the musical Genjutsu attack. Akamaru lunged at her and bit deep into her shoulder. Sakura noticed the music stopped and released the counter-jutsu. Lee disappeared from her side. He re-appeared next to a redheaded flute player hidden in the nearby shrubs. Before he could cry out, Lee had snapped the flute in two and punched him in the face. Red reeled back and produced an ocarina. Lee gave chase, but the notes emanating from the instrument stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Lee-san!" Sakura called out. "Plug your ears!" It was too late, however. He turned and headed back to her, his eyes half-lidded. Kiba tried to intercept him, but the third Sound nin swooped down from the trees like a crow and took him on. Lee reached Sakura; his vacant stare alerted her to his condition. 'Oh no. Lee can't snap out of it himself!' she thought. She pulled a kunai and a blowgun out of her pack and tried her best to fight her friend and teammate without taking too much damage.

He spun and kicked her hard across the face, cutting her cheek. Sakura tumbled away from him and leapt up. 'Now's my chance! Sorry, Lee-san!' she thought and blew a tiny, almost invisible dart at him. It hit his shin and before he could take three steps Lee fell face first into the grass, dead asleep.

Relieved, Sakura breathed a sigh, but noticed quickly that it was very quiet. She stood and looked around, trying to locate any foreign sounds. The Sound-nin Akamaru had attacked lay on the ground about 50 feet away looking very dead, but neither the dog nor his master were anywhere to be seen. She leapt up into the trees and hid herself. She knew the flutist was still around somewhere. As long as he was a Genjutsu user, she knew his attacks would have less effect on her. With Tsunade's training, she could defeat him.

A rustling to her left put Sakura on guard. She formed a half-dozen seals and closed her eyes. A single note from the ocarina escaped, but a loud rustle and accompanying thud told her she got him with the Feathery Sleep technique. She let out a quiet sigh and scanned the area again. 'Come on Kiba. I don't have Lee to help right now…' As if in answer, Kiba staggered out of the woods toward the riverbank.

"Run… Sakura. Back to the Leaf…" he choked out before falling down hard on the gravel. A dark figure emerged from the woods, Akamaru stuffed under his arm. The Sound nin dropped him on top of his master and stood his ground.

'No…' Sakura started to shake. 'Not now, not him!'

_'Fight him.'_

'I CAN'T!' she argued back.

_'You must. He can't get away again, Sakura!'_

"Sakura," he called without looking up. His hair was long and in his face. His clothes were all black and no trace of his family crest could be seen. The afternoon light glinted off his Sound Village forehead protector. "I can't let you live."

Her inner-self didn't have to push. He knew she was there. There was no choice. If she didn't fight it would be like letting him kill her. She dropped down to the ground and walked to the other side of the stream. "It's been a long time, Saskue-kun.

-----

When she came to, Sakura was fairly surprised to find that she was alive. Lee's worried face was just out of focus but she identified him, even with only one eye functioning properly. She wanted to scream, or cry or cling to him but her body refused. She closed her eyes.

-----

Sasuke stood over her, his hand raised, ready for her to attack again. Sakura scuttled back a few feet, her head swam from his last punch. "Sasuke…" she sobbed. "Come home."

"And if I refuse, what will you do then?" he asked and kicked her hard in the ribs. Sakura coughed up blood and curled into a ball.

_'Yes, what will you do, Sakura?'_

'Go away. I don't need you…'

_'You're pathetic. Let me take over.'_

'No…'

_'He's going to get away, and you are going to die. Let me in the driver's seat, damn it!'_

"Fine…" She went still. As Sasuke reeled back to kick her again, she reached out quickly, grasped his other ankle and pulled. He went down and she came up, hurled a handful of shuriken at him and leapt back ten feet. Sasuke put his hands out and did a back flip as he fell easily avoiding the projectiles. His brow rose as she pulled out a concealed weapon. The sickle and chain whirred in the air as she spun the weighted end around. A sickening grin formed on her lips. "Bring it on, Sasuke-kun. I'll drag you back to the Leaf kicking and screaming."

-----

Lee unwrapped the chain from her chest, wincing at the deep cuts it had left in her arms. "He hung her up in a tree?!" Kiba's angry voice bellowed from nearby. He coughed with the effort.

"Shhh," Lee insisted. "Sakura-san, can you hear me?" She nodded slightly. "Akamaru went to get help. They'll be here soon. Hang in there!" She nodded again and passed out.

-----

The lights were blinding. She struggled to see, but it seemed almost too much of an effort just to breathe. Her body felt like lead. Familiar voices chirped like birds around her.

"…If she did indeed contact him…"

"…Remains to be seen. Two bodies were found at the scene…"

"…Become a serious security issue. Ibiki-san has reported that the enemy…"

She closed her eyes tightly.

_'There's nowhere to hide, Sakura.'_

'Shut up.'

_ 'Ooh, he really let you have it, you weakling. You're so wounded you're almost immobile. How does that feel, eh? Why do you still insist on pushing me down?'_

'Because you're not me.'

_'Wrong, girly. You are not ME. You are the soft exterior. You're supposed to be a ninja. You cannot be soft. How many times do I have to tell you this?'_

'You're the one who got me trashed out there…'

_ 'If I had been in charge from the get-go you wouldn't have lost! You're the one who let him get away again, Sakura!'_

She had no comeback for this one. Sakura tried to move even a finger and still her body was unresponsive and heavy.

_ 'If you ever want to get out of this bed again, let me in front.'_

'You're doing this…?' she asked, alarmed that she had no control over her physical action.

_ 'Sakura, you useless piece of shit, let me out!'_

'But…'

_'You are incapable and pathetic. I am strong. I will get him back.'_

---

Shizune finally managed to get everyone out of the room and concentrate on healing her patient. She thanked the gods that Naruto had been busy on an important mission, because even dealing with a hysterical Ino had been hard enough. Where Ino had not been told that Uchiha Sasuke delivered the beating, Naruto would have gotten it out of someone and been furious. Picking up the chart, Shizune sighed and looked over Sakura's wounds.

"Concussion, broken ribs, lacerations on the biceps, other minor contusions… Nothing so serious…" she muttered to herself. The mission report was under the medical chart. Shizune reread this and stared out the window. "Hmmm could be because of the particular opponent…" she mused, but was distracted by the patient's movement. Not only was Sakura stirring, she was trying to get out of bed.

"Whoa! Wait a second, you shouldn't be moving around like that with those ribs," Shizune advised in a friendly, polite tone.

"Fuck off," Sakura spat back and pushed her aside as she threw her legs over the side of the bed and held her side in pain.

"Uh… Sakura-kun, are you feeling alright?" Shizune asked, putting her left hand on her shoulder.

Sakura threw it off and scowled at her. "What do _you_ think, moron?"

Shizune narrowed her eyes and jammed her right index and middle fingers into a pressure point by Sakura's knees. As she fell, Shizune caught her and pushed her gently back onto the bed. "I think you need to rest some more and since I am your acting physician, you will do as I say."

Sakura growled at her, but made no further attempt to leave. She turned her head and looked out the window. Shizune opened her mouth to say something but decided against it. She left the room, stationing two white-garbed medic-nin as guards at the door on the way out. When she returned a few moments later Shizune had two cups of tea, a notebook and a pen. She wore a stethoscope around her neck.

"Sakura-kun. I'd like to ask you a few questions about your mission."

"Whatever," she grumbled.

"Can you look at me?"

Indignantly, Sakura turned her head and huffed. She stared at Shizune as if her head was on fire. "Happy?"

"Overjoyed," she said flatly and leaned in to take a sip of tea. When she leaned back the stethoscope swung back and forth over her chest. She proceeded to ask routine who-what-when-where questions about the spur-of-the-moment mission Sakura, Lee and Kiba had been sent on. "And when you hit Lee with the dart…?"

"He…" Sakura said, sleepily.

"Fell asleep?" Shizune asked. "Sakura when I count to three, _you_ will fall asleep. Understood?"

"Yeah…"

"One, Two…" she leaned in again, sipped her tea and let the stethoscope do its job. With the power of advanced medic-nin techniques, it mesmerized the unsuspecting Kunoichi. "Three. Sakura, can you hear me?"

Her eyelids were closed. "Yeah…"

"You've been acting sort of strangely since you came to. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she spat.

"Now, now. I know that's not true. You're not that rude. Something happened out there that made you upset. What was it?"

"It wasn't me," she growled.

"No?"

"It was her."

"Who's that, Sakura?"

"The one who's usually on the outside."

"And you are…?"

"Inner Sakura."

Shizune finished off her tea and started on the cup she had brought for Sakura. "Interesting…"

* * *

**To be continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Honokuni Monogatari - "Fire Country Stories"**

**Uchinaru - "On The Inside"**

**By Aoi Kami Sarah **

**Chapter 2 **

The following day, Sakura was released from the hospital, but was told to return for a follow up later that afternoon. She trudged to her apartment, eyes on the ground. A large pile of junk mail greeted her on the other side of the door, but nothing else was out of order. Her apartment was grey and cold and silent. She sloughed off her clothes and took a hot shower.

When she came out, her clothes were still scattered where she dropped them. She changed into a new set of spandex and a red over-dress and went about cleaning her apartment as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The bandages on her upper-arms had survived the shower, but she refused to acknowledge they were even there. They made her dress sleeves damp. She picked up the dress she had worn the day before and went through the pockets before dumping it in the hamper. In one of the pockets she found a lint ball and an illegible fortune-cookie fortune that had been washed once already. In the other she found what looked like a paper football the boys used to play with back in the academy.

"What's this…?" she muttered and sat down on her bed. Carefully, she unfolded it.

-----

Tsunade leaned against the far wall in her office and narrowed her eyes. "When is she due to come back in?"

Shizune flipped Sakura's chart. "Today at three. I assumed that would be alright, I peeked at your schedule earlier."

"Yes, that's fine. We need to address this as soon as possible. You say it's been going on all her life?"

"At least since she was a Genin; perhaps earlier in a lesser respect. It seems to be getting worse every year. I managed to get the Inner Sakura back inside, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before she comes back up to the surface."

Tsunade clicked her tongue. "Poor kid. Do you think she can be helped?"

Shizune nodded. "I think I have an idea…"

-----

"What… the hell is this…?" Sakura whispered. The 'football' unfolded into a piece of paper about four inches by five inches wide. The characters on it seemed to be gibberish at first glance, but Sakura was smart enough to notice code when she saw it. "How did this get in my pocket?!" she asked breathlessly. She rushed to her desk where she knocked some books and CDs to the ground, grabbed a piece of paper and pen and began an attempt to decode it. A few hours later, she was certain she had cracked the code and made sense of the characters, but the message was still unclear.

"Time of change draws near. A second question and a fourth, yours and mine. Fall will become spring." Her eyes darted over the words of the 'football' note and the words she had written. "Did you give this to me?" she asked, feverishly. "What does it mean, Sasuke-kun?!"

A knock on her door made her jump in her seat. She quickly hid the note and translation in a notebook and went to the door.

"Shizune-sempai?"

"Sakura-kun, are you alright?" Shizune asked, looking extremely concerned.

"Oh my god, it's three?!" Sakura asked craning her neck to see the clock on the microwave. She had to think fast. "It's _four_! I'm so sorry, I must have overslept!"

"Oh, I'm glad you got some rest!" Shizune chimed. "If you like, Tsunade-sama still has some time…"

Sakura wanted nothing more than to pour over the note until she had the message's meaning, but to deny the Hokage would arouse suspicion. "That would be great. I'm so sorry…" Quickly, she grabbed her bag, leaving the note in its hiding place. She decided that she had the translation memorized and could mull it over while she waited to be seen by Tsunade.

---

Once more Sakura recounted the details of her mission, this time for her mentor and Hokage, Tsunade. The woman listened intently to the information and Shizune sat to their left against the window and paid close attention to the way the information was being delivered. She watched every movement and gesture, listened to every pause and stumble, unwittingly evaluating her patient. When Sakura was done speaking, Tsunade looked to Shizune who nodded slightly.

"Sakura, I understand you were behaving strangely when you woke up in the hospital?"

She sat up a bit straighter and looked to Shizune. "I… I was a little out of it, maybe…"

"I'm so sorry I didn't see it years ago. You've kept it well hidden, Sakura."

"What?" she asked, alarmed.

Tsunade stood up, walked to Sakura's chair and crouched down beside her. She took her hand. "You have what's called Multiple Personality Disorder."

Sakura's jaw dropped. Tears formed at her eyes and she looked from Tsunade to Shizune and back again. Shizune put the pad she'd been writing on down and leaned against Tsunade's desk. "You have two distinct personalities. The one that we know that's usually on the outside and one that refers to herself as Inner Sakura. This inner-self is coarse, crude, loud, aggressive, angry: many things you are not. She generally comes to the forefront when you or your friends are in danger of losing their lives. That is not to say she's evil in any way, just different. It's my opinion that you've been suppressing this other self for so long that an event like the one that happened the other day triggered her to come out and _stay_ out, even after the threat was gone. We'd like to help you meet in the middle, if you'd let us."

There was a long pause. Sakura looked up from the floor, tears running down her face. "Am I crazy…?" she whispered.

"No, no, of course not!" Tsunade comforted her, but looked to Shizune as if to say 'is she?'.

"You're not crazy, Sakura, but you're not mentally well. I want to dedicate as much time to helping you as possible. So until we've made some progress, I'm going to remove your responsibilities."

"No, please not that. Please don't make me useless!" Sakura cried.

Shizune knelt down in front of her. "You are not useless. You've proven that over and over again at the hospital. You are a valuable Konoha Ninja, that is why we are going to do our best to help you."

Sakura snuffed and wiped her tears on the front of her dress.

"That and we care about you very much, Sakura," Tsunade smoothed her hand over the young woman's hair. "When Shizune came to me I was a wreck. But I know that you'll be in good hands. If you need anything, to talk or just chill out, come see me, ok?"

Sakura nodded and composed herself before being shown out. She didn't remember about the note until she had left the building. Rather than go home, she walked slowly to the park. It was only just getting dark and not that many people were out. She found a quiet spot on a bench under a street light and sat down.

"Time of change draws near. A second question and a fourth, yours and mine. Fall will become spring," she repeated the note's message. "A time of change… something's happening soon. A second, a fourth… I don't get that at all. Fall will become spring," she muttered and pondered this last phrase. "Fall will become spring…"

"Reciting poetry, Sakura?" a familiar voice from behind startled her.

"Kaka'i-sensei!" she shouted and stared at the Jounin who seemed to have materialized at her left. "Uh, no! I just…"

Kakashi was dressed not in his usual Jounin attire, but in simple gi pants and a mock-turtleneck shirt. His mask and hitai-ate were still in place as usual. "It's a nice metaphor, anyway," he said and sat down next to her. "'Fall will become spring', you hear that a lot at graduation ceremonies and pep-rallies before big missions."

"You… you do?" she asked as innocently as possible.

"Mmmm," he hummed. "It means the Leaves always come back."

Sakura gasped and jumped from her seat. Before she could give her old sensei an excuse and run away to try to put the rest of the message together, Kakashi's hand clamped down on her wrist.

"Ah, ah, ah. Not so fast, Missy. You and I need to talk."

"Talk?" she asked, a hint of terror in her voice. "What for? I…" her mind whirled. "Let go of me!" she shouted angrily.

Immediately Kakashi released her, staring hard with a shocked look on his face. "I'm sorry, I just heard that…"

"That I'm nuts?" she asked, a manic smile spreading from ear to ear. "That I've been fired from the hospital and pulled off missions 'cause I'm a fucking lunatic who doesn't even know who she is!?" she screamed. Sakura gripped either side of her head and grimaced. "No! You're not coming out again!"

Kakashi got up slowly and approached her. "Sakura, are you alright?" He put his hands out carefully and took her gently by the shoulders. Her breathing slowed back down to normal and she looked up at him, but couldn't quite look him in the eye.

"No…" she said weakly and let him sit her back down on the bench.

She explained very little, but admitted that she had been put on probation because of the very outbreak he had just witnessed and that she would get the very best treatment. "So you heard about it already, huh? Please don't tell Naruto, ok?"

"No, I hadn't heard about it. I heard about the intruders."

It couldn't get any worse. Sakura's shoulders slumped. "I really don't want to talk about it."

"I understand. But if you need to, please talk to me. If there's anything I can do…"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Kaka'i-sensei. This is something I have to do on my own." Sakura stood and began walking away.

"Are you sure? You don't seem to be having much luck with that metaphor of yours…" he drawled, playing a magnificent bluff. It worked like a charm. She stopped dead in her tracks. He pushed it further. "He gave you a message, in code, didn't he? But you can't discern its meaning."

She walked back and stood in front of him. "Fall will become Spring. If that does mean the leaves return, that means that he's coming back?"

"Or wants to. The first bit again?"

"Time of change draws near. A second question and a fourth, yours and mine."

"Something important is going to happen…" Kakashi rubbed his eye to hide his surprise. "No idea," he lied. "The other bit is odd. Are you sure that's what it was?"

"Positive. Yours and mine, if the message is for me from him, it's Sakura's and…" She still had trouble saying his name.

"His fourth question and your second. Did you answer different questions on that Chuunin exam?"

"No. I answered all of them. I hadn't thought to think back that far." She sat down next to him again and rubbed her hands together in thought, staring straight ahead. Even though it was painful to think about the past, it felt good to work her brain. "Questions, questions. If it's supposed to have some significance, it's got to be something really important and obvious to me but not to anyone else."

Kakashi leaned forward and gripped his own hands together. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Kaka'i-sensei…" she said rolling her eyes. "I'm not losing it _right now_."

"What is your name?"

"Haruno Sakura!"

"What are your likes? Or more importantly, what were your likes when you were 12 years old?"

She opened her mouth but it stayed that way for a moment. "Sasuke-kun…"

"And _his_ fourth question, 'what is your aspiration?'"

"To kill 'that man:' his brother, Itachi. Ok, so far it reads "Time of change draws near. You like me and I want to kill my brother. I'll come home." They both sat in silence for a good minute, mulling it over. Sakura still didn't understand the whole picture, but Kakashi tapped his foot nervously.

"You have to take this note to Godaime-sama."

"I can't."

"You _must_. There's something huge going on. If you don't we could lose him again, this time perhaps forever."

Sakura blinked at his seriousness. "Forever? What was it the last time? Seeya later?"

Kakashi stood up. "Last time we didn't have a plea in the form of an encoded note stressing off the bat that something's going to change soon. If you don't take it to her, I will." She couldn't see his single eye from where she was standing, but she was sure that the expression didn't match the typical nonchalant timbre of his voice.

-----

Sakura fidgeted sitting next to her sensei outside the Hokage's office, keenly aware that she was still just a child. Kakashi was silent. She sat to his right and stared at his covered Sharingan eye. The idea that she had never asked him of its origin crossed her mind, but now was not the time. As last they were shown in.

Tsunade studied the note and its translation as Kakashi told it to her. Sakura rubbed her hands together and stared at a piece of the carpet about a foot from the Hokage's desk that was sort of coming undone. Kakashi finished and Tsunade drummed her fingers on the desk. "What do you want me to do about this?"

Kakashi glanced to see Sakura's reaction. She seemed to still be in a daze. "We merely wanted to bring this to your attention. What you do with the information is up to you, but it's clear that Sasuke wishes to communicate with us."

Tsunade was unmoved. "By beating the living shit out of our nin?" Kakashi let out a slow breath. "Well, what do you think he's trying to say, Kakashi?"

Sakura lifted her head to say she had no idea when her sensei surprised her. "Orochimaru is about to switch bodies and Sasuke wants out before that happens."

Tsunade shrugged. "He's a Sound-nin now. Whatever happens to him is none of our concern." She picked up a brush and dabbed it in some ink, ready to get back to work. "Thank you for letting me know. You're excused."

Kakashi stood, but Sakura didn't move. She stared at the carpet, slowly coming undone. "Sakura…?" Kakashi asked and touched her shoulder. She smacked his hand away, leapt out of her chair and ran out of the room. He watched her go, then turned to the Hokage. "Why did you…?"

"Kakashi. Whatever you want to ask me I'm not at liberty to answer."

"She told me about her problem."

Tsunade put the brush down and leaned back in her chair. "Ah."

Kakashi put his hands on the desk. "She's obviously not in a stable enough condition to be talked to like that about _him_!" he said, raising his voice and the Hokage's brows.

"We are very well aware of her condition. I appreciate your concern, but the only thing you can do for her right now is be there for her." She leaned forward. "You should probably _follow her_," she said with a flip of her hand and went back to her paperwork.

Kakashi seemed unsatisfied but he relaxed. "I understand," he agreed and left the room.

* * *

**To be Continued...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Honokuni Monogatari - "Fire Country Stories"**

**Uchinaru - "On The Inside"**

**By Aoi Kami Sarah **

**Chapter 3**

Sakura was about three miles from the Fire Country border when she noticed she was being tailed. A simple trap scheme she set up as she went should have sufficed to alert her, but this tail had gotten through almost all of the traps. Concerned, she stopped, leapt up into the canopy and waited for her opponent.

The tiny dog halted just below the tree in which she was well hidden, pointed his nose skyward and barked a few times.

"Looks like I set off one of your notification traps, eh?" he said and waited for his master to catch up.

"Fucking lousy mutt," Sakura cursed and dropped down in front of him.

"Oh, Sakura-chan. Such a mouth you've developed in your old age," Pakkun growled. Sakura surprised him yet again by kicking him into a distant tree. She wasn't surprised when dog became log.

"Kakashi!" she shouted. "Go home, Old Man."

"Sakura," Kakashi addressed her as he melted out of the shadows. "As much as you might think you can, you _can't_ do this alone."

"No one asked for your opinion," she snarled as she took a kunai out of her pouch and readied to fight him.

"You will not do this alone," he repeated angrily, but calmly. "I'm coming with you."

Sakura relaxed a little and laughed darkly at the Jounin. "Whatever. Just don't get in my way." She leapt up into the trees and headed for the Sound Country.

Pakkun shook his head. "My, my. You're right, Kakashi. Kurou-Sakura is really scary."

Kakashi ignored him and sprinted off after his former student. Pakkun shrugged and vanished in a puff of smoke.

-----

In the depths of the Otogakure compound a set of footsteps echoed down a long dark hallway. Behind one of the many doors, a figure sat on his knees, silhouetted by candles. He had his hands folded in his lap and his eyes closed.

"Is it time," he asked as his meditation was disrupted.

"Nearly. There's been a slight change in plans,"

This roused the praying man. He turned his head slightly. "What is it, Kabuto? Orochimaru get cold feet?"

"No, no. There will just be a short delay. Please be patient a little longer, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto replied with a closed-eye smile.

-----

"Sakura, wait," Kakashi whispered. Outside, the compound was silent. He looked around warily.

Sakura stared at the main gate and shrugged. "I'm going in."

"Don't you think it's odd that we haven't faced opposition?"

"Odd-schmod. I'm going in," she repeated.

"Ok, we should…"

"I don't care what you do," she barked. "I'll find Sasuke." In a flash she was gone, darting into the gaping blackness of the front entrance.

"…split up…?" Kakashi finished. "Teenagers," he huffed and disappeared.

Sakura flew down the hall, searching for opponents and growing more and more anxious at finding none. She stopped and unfurled a scroll she had hidden inside her dress. With a drop of blood for ink, she wrote 'Uchiha Sasuke' with her finger on the seemingly blank paper. It glowed slightly and a series of seals and characters spun out of the ink, off the paper and down the hall. She chased after the glow from the head of the line. The trail faded slowly behind her, leaving no trace. At the end of the hall the spectral ink flew up onto a door and spelled the characters for 'here' before the jutsu dispelled. Sakura smirked and approached the door.

---

Kakashi was sure that even in full stealth, he was bound to run into some interference, but as it was outside, the halls were quiet and empty. Suddenly, the din of footsteps raced towards him. He pressed into a doorway and prepared himself.

"Quickly!" a Sound-nin shouted to his comrades. "The outer guard has been obliterated!" Five nin made a quick turn left just before Kakashi's hiding place and ran away.

'It can't be Sakura…' he thought. 'We're both inside. Someone else is attacking?' he wondered.

"Kabuto!!!" a harsh voice wailed from just a few doors down. "Make haste if you value your life!"

"Orochimaru…" Kakashi gulped.

"Yes, he's two doors down to the left," a voice answered. "Relax, he can't move just yet as he's preparing for the change." Its owner stepped out of the shadows.

"Kabuto!" Kakashi raised his hitai-ate, ready for a fight, but once again, it didn't come.

"I see your Sakura-chan got my note," he said. The sheen on his glasses from the dim light of the torch-lined hall obscured his eyes, but his face was dark and serious.

"_Your_ note?" Kakashi furrowed his brow.

"Aa. I highly doubt Konoha would have sent anyone after someone as despicable as myself. For precious Uchiha Sasuke, however…"

Kakashi held up his hand. "Wait, you want to be rescued?"

"We don't have time for this. If you want to save Sasuke-kun, we've got to intercept Orochimaru now while he's vulnerable!" Kabuto turned and started down the hall.

Kakashi stood where he was. "How do I know this isn't a set up?"

Kabuto looked over his shoulder, his eye just visible. "You must trust me."

"I can't. You hurt Sakura. Who says you won't hurt me?"

Kabuto sighed melodramatically. "Everyone's got something, that until they face it or deal with it or learn to live with it, will hinder them from being strong. For me, it was my useless sentimentality. Becoming cold-blooded was for me, the key to becoming strong. I noticed your team's particular hindrances during the Chuunin exam. Sakura fights an inner struggle based on her crushingly low self-esteem. In order to push her past that, I disguised myself as Sasuke and beat her up a bit, which caused her more forceful inner-self, the one she keeps hidden out of fear and self-loathing, to come to the forefront. Only this 'Inner-Sakura' would have come for Sasuke."

Kakashi balled his fists, but found that he couldn't argue with him.

"Sasuke-kun, on the other hand," Kabuto added, petulantly pushing his glasses up his nose. "I've tried for three years to get him to face his problem, but with no success."

"And what would _that_ be?" Kakashi asked, annoyed.

"Utter loneliness," Kabuto answered as he approached the door behind which Orochimaru waited. "He pushes everyone away thinking their affections will only drag him down. Until he opens up, even a little, he's doomed to failure."

---

Sasuke let out a slow breath. "Is it time yet, Kabuto? Or are you going to piss me off again?"

"Oh, it's time all right…" Sakura purred. "Time for a little pay-back, Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke whipped around, startled by her voice and his face met her fist. He leapt back, held his nose in pain and stared at her as if her head were on fire. "Sakura?"

"Surprised? Didn't think I had the stones to come after you, didja?!"

"What are you talking about?" he snarled, regaining his senses. Although she was acting strangely, he was sure it was really her. "I didn't touch you. I haven't seen you in three years, moron."

"Don't play with me, Sasuke-kun. I don't know why you felt it necessary to beat the living crap out of me, but I'm sorta glad you did! It got me here!" she laughed. "I got your note," she added, took the 'football' out of her pocket and tossed it to him.

Sasuke unfolded the note, read the translation scrawled on the bottom and frowned. "I didn't write this."

A chill ran down Sakura's spine. Everything about his body language told her he was telling the truth. 'It's a setup!' she thought and narrowed her eyes. "Oh well, I'm here now, so you're coming with me."

He crumpled the note and threw it over his shoulder. "It's too late for that. Soon, Orochimaru will make me more powerful than any soft Konoha ninja."

Sakura balled her fists and charged him. He wasn't sure what she was planning, but whatever it was, it was no match for his fully awakened Sharingan. She stopped just a few feet before him and dropped to her knees. A few choked cries escaped her lips, but she was unable to speak, let alone move.

"Now," he said, stepping forward. "Let's see what's inside…"

---

Kakashi flew backwards and hit the wall, hard. This time, he didn't have a chance to kawarimi himself with another object. The wind knocked out of him, he slid to the floor, stunned. What had looked like a cakewalk had turned into hell very quickly when both fair-haired men realized Orochimaru was far from helpless, even in his weakened state, when riding a gigantic summoned snake.

"Kakashi!" Kabuto shouted. "Get up! Just a little while longer and he'll run out of time!" The Jounin squeezed his eyes shut, trying to clear the stars. The giant snake coiled ever closer. Kabuto stepped defensively in front of Kakashi and formed chakra scalpels with his hands. "Damn it, I won't give up now. I've come too far!" he cried and charged his master. Orochimaru started to shake as Kabuto drew closer, the stability of his current form slipping away. He clutched his chest, grimaced and dove down from the great snake's head.

"Damn you, Kabuto!" he shouted and pulled his sword, the Kusanagi no Tsurugi from his mouth. Before it could slice him in twain, Kabuto grasped the blade between his glowing hands. "How dare you betray me now?!" Orochimaru hissed.

"After studying your last transition, I learned you were at your weakest just before you shed your skin. If I'm going to kill you, it's now or never, Orochimaru!"

To this, the irate snake laughed. "Indeed, Kabuto… It _is_ now or never!" His tongue darted out at the medic nin. Kabuto's eyes widened and his mind raced for a possible defense.

---

In the negative-space world of Sasuke's mind's-eye, he stood with his arms folded and looked out over a desert of red sand; before him stood not one but two crucifixes. He raised a brow.

"What the…?"

The Sakura on the right hung her head and wept quietly. The one on the left thrashed, kicked, cursed and spit at him.

"Why are there two of you?" he asked, perplexed. "I've used the Mangekyou Sharingan over 100 times but I've never seen anything like this…"

"Let me go, you little shit!" the one on the Left screamed at him.

The Right sobbed. "Mou… Just give up, it's hopeless…"

"Would you stop whining?!"

"How can I?" Right cried. "Look what you got me into! Sasuke-kun didn't even really want to be saved!"

"Oh Please!!!" the Left screamed. "You wanted to save him, too! You love him as much as I do!"

The Right gasped and stared at her counterpart. A slow smile spread across her tear-stained face. She nodded "With all my heart."

"Oi…" Sasuke tried to interrupt.

Inner-Sakura smirked. She lowered her voice. "Alright then, truce?"

"Truce!" Outer Sakura agreed.

"Let's get 'im!"

Their bodies began to glow and they disappeared. Sasuke had to shield his eyes. When the light faded, only one Sakura remained and to Sasuke's surprise, they were back in the room.

"How…? How did you break the Mangekyou!?"

Sakura took a fighting stance. "I don't know, but I've never felt more confident in my life. I _will_ take you back to Konoha, Sasuke-kun."

"I doubt that," he said with a grin. His curse seal spiraled out over his skin, just as she had seen it do three years ago, but it didn't stop. His skin, eyes and hair changed color. A scar-like mark crossed his nose. His shirt ripped open as a set of monstrous bat-like clawed wings sprouted out of his back, nearly filling the room. The explosive wave of Sasuke's chakra nearly knocked Sakura over.

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura whispered, covering her mouth in shock. "What have you become?" He rushed at her, his new form and Sharingan should have been stronger and faster than she was, but three years of training under Tsunade and her newfound confidence paid off. Sakura gripped the clawed hand that came at her neck and rolled with him. Her back hit the wall. Her feet pressed against his thighs as he pushed closer, pressing her into the wall.

"Give up!" he shouted in an unholy voice.

"You'll have to kill me first, Sasuke-kun!" She called back. For a second, she thought she saw his strange eyes twist with something akin to emotion, but a moment later he lifted his free hand and formed a familiar chirping ball of chakra in it. Sakura saw her one and only chance. She let his arm go, and now freed, his hand gripped her neck. She formed three quick seals and slammed her palms into his chest. Before he could tell her it was useless, the jutsu started to work. "Transfer!" she shouted and the chidori he'd been forming fizzled out.

Sasuke tried to wrestle free, but it was as if her hands were connected to his heart. She hooked her legs around his and held on tight as he thrashed. The curse seal retreated back into its tomoe mark and Sasuke went limp. He crunched to his knees and Sakura finally let him go.

"What… what did you do to me?!" he gasped and lay on the ground holding his chest.

"I sucked out almost all of your chakra," she explained and popped her fingers into just about every debilitating pressure point she could think of on his body. Noticing just how much chakra was coursing through her body, she chuckled a little to herself and bit her thumb.

'Great, what now?!' Sasuke thought as he stared at her, unable to move.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A four-foot high, ten foot long pink slug with purple spots emerged from the puff of smoke generated by the Jutsu's activation.

"Hello!" a cheery voice emanated from the creature. "You must be Haruno Sakura-sama! Hajimemashite yoroshiku!"

"Yeah, nice to meet you too," Sakura replied awkwardly. She had only been able to call smaller slugs before and although its size was appropriate, it still awed her. "Can you carry Sasuke-kun for me?"

"Of course, Sakura-sama!"

Sasuke watched, angered and horrified as the huge pink thing approached him. It rolled over, enveloped him and rolled back, safely cushioning him like a marshmallow on its back.

'How!?' Sasuke thought. 'How did she get so strong!?' His anger was palpable. Sakura wanted to enfold him in her arms, but she knew this was neither the time nor the place. As she readied to leave the room, something bothered her.

"Sasuke-kun, if you didn't give me the note, who did? Who would have known about the questions Kaka'i-sensei asked us?"

He cursed and narrowed his eyes. "Kabuto…"

"Hm." She frowned, remembering how brutally she was attacked. "That explains why he didn't use the Sharingan on me." She poked her head out of the door, scouted down the hall and bid the slug to follow. Sasuke struggled, but she was confident he wasn't going anywhere. A sound around the corner put Sakura on guard. She darted up to it and used a mirror to take a peek around. At first, she put up her guard, but it quickly fell when she saw his face. "Kabuto-san!" she cried and rounded the corner. He was staggering towards them, limping and sliding his shoulder along the wall. His glasses were gone and his face looked as if it had been put through a meat grinder. His eyes were fixed on the slug behind her.

"Sasuke…" he hissed.

Sasuke nudged his chin up so that he could see and stared back at him in disbelief. Blood dripped off of the wounded shinobi and echoed slightly as it splashed to the ground. "Something's not right," Sasuke muttered.

Sakura felt it too and took a step back. "Where's Kakashi, Kabuto?"

"It's too late," Kabuto croaked and coughed up more blood.

"I know it was you who wrote the note," she said in a low growl. "Why did you do it? What was your motive?"

Kabuto tilted his head back and laughed. Sasuke gasped. Further down the hallway, a figure fell out of a doorway and hit the ground.

"Sakura! Run! That's not Kabuto anymore, he's Orochimaru!!!" Kakashi shouted with the last of his strength. His voice was unholy in its urgency and reverberation as it bounced down the hall…

* * *

**To be Continued...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Honokuni Monogatari - "Fire Country Stories"**

**Uchinaru - "On The Inside"**

**By Aoi Kami Sarah **

**Chapter 4**

"Kaka'i-sensei!" she called. Her eyes averted from the mess in front of her for only a moment. It was long enough. Kabuto lifted his head and Orochimaru's strange snake-like eyes peered out from within. He lunged at Sakura. She put her hands up to block him. His neck and teeth grew long and honed in on her neck. The word 'osoi' passed through Sakura's mind and she closed her eyes. 'Too slow…'

To her amazement, a half of a second later, she was unharmed and a large puff of smoke was clearing in front of her. Orochi-Kabuto's teeth were sunk deep into the flesh of a shinobi's arm—a shinobi with his back to her wearing the green flack jacket and hitai-ate of Konoha. The Kagebunshin grinned and popped out of existence. His true self, standing just behind Orochimaru, quickly laced one arm around his neck and cracked it into a 90-degree angle with the other. Orochimaru sunk to the floor.

"I don't believe it," Sakura whispered. "Naruto, to the rescue!" A wide grin began to spread across her face, but stopped as Sasuke started to scream.

"It's the curse seal." Naruto kept one eye on Orochimaru's body and nodded towards Sasuke. "You take care of him. I'll get Kakashi!"

She nodded and hovered over her former teammate. "I don't know what I can do!" she fussed and watched as he convulsed. She freed the pressure points to ease his suffering. It was hard to pull his hand away from his neck, but she was able to observe as the tomoe-coma mark smoked and hissed as if it were burning. She imagined that it felt much as it looked. After a few moments, the smoke cleared, the mark was gone and Sasuke was unconscious.

"Is he gonna be ok?" Naruto asked, helping Kakashi to walk.

She checked Sasuke's pulse. "Mm, I think so. Let me look at Kakashi."

Naruto eased his sensei to the ground and kept watch as Sakura's healer's hands illuminated the dark hallway. He nudged Orochimaru's body with his foot. "Sakura, don't look over here for a bit." Naruto drew a sword from a sheath on his back and decapitated the corpse. "No way I'm lettin' this snake hurt anyone ever again," he muttered and bagged the head. "I guess Kabuto wanted out, ne?"

"It seems that way," Sakura said, not turning her eyes from her task. "He sent me a note to get us here. If he hadn't beat me unconscious recently, I'd almost feel sorry for him."

Naruto looked from the unconscious Sasuke to the bedraggled Kakashi to the slightly bruised but otherwise in-charge Sakura and scratched his head. "Say, Sakura? What are you and Kakashi doing out on _my_ mission?"

She laughed a little uneasily. "Well, it wasn't really _our_ mission... Wait, _your_ mission?! What the hell?! Why didn't Tsunade-sama _just tell me that_!?" she fumed.

"Uh, Sakura-chan? You can stop now," Kakashi blinked up at her, watching the torrent of chakra race into him.

"Oh! Hehehehe. I guess Sasuke-kun really juiced me up!"

"I can't wait to hear the whole story," Naruto said as he stuffed the bagged head into a pack on his back. "But we better get going before we run into more Sound nin."

"More?" Kakashi asked, standing up and dusting himself off. "We didn't see any at all. It was a piece of cake getting in here."

Naruto sighed. "Aw man, I must have been fighting _all_ of them!"

"Quit complaining," Sakura groaned and put her hands on her hips. "_You_ did half the work, _we_ did half the work!"

"Sounds fair to me," Kakashi added. "Shall we?"

---

Dawn was just breaking as they emerged from the compound. The giant slug happily carrying her precious cargo and the three Konoha ninja ready to take on whatever would get in their way. They didn't expect to see so many people, at least, not just standing there, waiting for them.

Sakura scanned the crowd. "No one's attacking," she whispered, more to validate what she was seeing than to state the obvious. Ninja young and grown, of various nationalities, many sporting the symbols of their former villages struck through with a gouge; even those with Otogakure musical notes on their hitai-ate, stood and watched as the heroes made their way out.

"Just keep moving," Kakashi advised. They got about 200 yards from the entrance when someone finally in front of them.

The nin was about 20, had short, spiky brown hair and a scar on his chin. His brows were—like so many others in the crowd—knitted in worry. He put his hand to his neck and rubbed it. "Is he dead?" he asked. The three exchanged glances. Naruto nodded. Like a flock of birds put on alert and calling out the same message, the crowd exploded with cheers.

-----

When they arrived in Konoha, the sun was setting. Sakura was bone-tired, but every time she looked to her left and saw Sasuke lying on the slug she had summoned, her pulse raced and invigorated her. They discretely took him to the hospital where he was admitted and put under the tightest security. Sakura forced Kakashi to get checked out as well and she and Naruto preceded him to the Hokage's offices. First, Naruto, who had actually been assigned to the mission, gave his report. Then Sakura was shown in.

---

Shizune was so preoccupied with methodically rubbing her hands together that she didn't notice him standing next to her until he called her name through the dart-like toothpick he chewed incessantly.

She stared up at him from her seat on the bench outside of Tsunade's office. "Oh, Genma!"

Genma eased himself down beside her and put his arms along the back of the bench. "Long time no see."

"Mm." She nodded and went back to rubbing her hands. He blinked at her.

"So, Genma," he said loudly. "How ya been? How was your mission? Seen any good movies lately?" He rolled his head to the side and stared at her.

Alarmed, she looked up and saw the smirk on his face. "I'm sorry..." Shizune leaned over and put her head on his shoulder. "How _was_ your mission? Getting on all right without me?"

"You know me, I get by. But your replacement doesn't keep me nearly as warm at night as you…" He laughed as her elbow jabbed into his ribs. "Miss you," he whispered and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"You're sweet," she whispered back and relaxed.

"So what's going on that's got you so nerved up?"

She smiled. Despite being a cheeky joker, Genma always seemed to know how she really felt. "I wish I could tell you."

"Classified, ne?"

"And patient-related."

"Ah."

"Suffice to say that Tsunade-sama and I decided on an unconventional treatment method over traditional psychotherapy for this particular patient. We opted to let a certain situation which presented itself to do the job. Our hope was that the patient would find this situation to be a catalyst for treatment, perhaps even cure for her condition."

Genma raised a brow. Most of what she said was lost on him. "You don't say?" Shizune hit his chest with the back of her hand but didn't get up. "She in there now, your patient?"

She nodded. "Now I'm just waiting for the prognosis. I feel like I'm going to be ill."

Genma got up. "Well, don't get sick on me!"

Shizune swatted at him crossly. "Go on then!"

"Got to," he answered, ignoring her venom. "Got another mission."

She pouted. "Busy, huh?"

"Eh," he said with a shrug and a wink. "Being busy keeps my mind off missing you." He waited for her shoulders to relax before bending to give her a kiss.

A passing shinobi wretched. "Ugh, get a room!"

"Shut up, Aoba!" Shizune stuck her tongue out at him. Genma ignored him. His gaze was fixed on the woman in front of him. She looked back, saw the love in his eyes and melted. "You're sweet," she said with a smile.

"Come on, loverboy. We're gonna be late."

"Yeah, yeah," Genma answered and saluted to his girl before following his teammate down the hall and out of sight.

---

Only two days before Sakura had sat in the same chair in front of Tsunade's desk and wept like a child. Now, although she was a bit wilted from the exertion, she sat up in her seat and confidently gave her report. She didn't question why Tsunade had allowed her to set out for Otogakure. She didn't wonder why her testimony was being accepted as if she too had been given orders to capture Uchiha Sasuke. She told her leader everything, including experiences inside the world of Mangekyou.

"Thank you, Sakura. You are dismissed," Tsunade said finally. Her voice sounded weary. Sakura then realized that although she had brought her teammate home safe and sound, Naruto had brought Tsunade's teammate's head home in a bag. She let out a slow breath. Sasuke was still a traitor to the leaf. Just because she had brought him home, didn't mean everything was going to be alright. But at least they had succeeded.

"Hokage-sama," she said, stood and clenched her fists. "Please do not let my feelings impair your judgment when you deal with him."

Tsunade got up, approached Sakura and stared her down with her coldest poker-face. The Hokage nodded once and walked out of the office.

Outside the door, Shizune waited for her, wringing her hands in worry. "You're about to have a lot more free time, Shizune," Tsunade said quietly as she passed by. "Sakura won't be needing your psychiatric services anymore."

"Hai!" Shizune piped in relief and ducked into the office.

"Tsunade Obaachan?" a familiar voice sounded from behind. Godaime stopped and Naruto came around to face her. "I wanna know, are you going to sentence him to death?" he asked quietly.

"I will do what is in Konoha's best interest," she answered dryly.

He hung his head. "I know that, but… I just… I want to see him one last time if that's the case." His eyes were dry, but she knew his heart was breaking.

'He's grown so much in the last few years,' she thought. She put a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Of course."

Naruto nodded in thanks and let her continue down the hall.

Tsunade had barely rounded the bend, about to go down the stairs to the holding facility when she detected his presence. Her shoulders slumped. "Alright, what do _you_ have to say?"

"I'm sorry," Kakashi whispered, stepping out of the shadows.

"What for?"

"If I had been a better sensei…"

"Would you _can_ it?" she moaned. "Sandaime was Orochimaru's sensei. Do you think it was his fault that creep turned out the way he did?"

Kakashi looked away. "I can't help but feel that way. I really think there was something I could have done."

"His path was his choice. He chose revenge over loyalty to the Leaf. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to pass judgment on him." Kakashi looked back into her deep, brown eyes and saw that he wasn't the only one torn up over this decision. Without further interruption, Tsunade made her way downstairs.

---

Homura and Koharu were waiting for her at a huge door covered with seals. Together, they released the jutsu keeping the room secure and entered. Under a spotlight in the center of the room, bound in a similar fashion to a chair (in a fairly comfortable position for a prisoner) was Uchiha Sasuke. His eyes were glued to the floor and his face showed no emotion.

The older woman, Koharu stepped forward. "Uchiha Sasuke, you stand accused of high treason against Konoha. In accordance with its laws, you do not have the right to a trial. The judgment against you will be decided by the Hokage and the members of the Council."

Homura coughed before he picked up where Koharu left off. "You have forsaken the Leaf and sided with a known enemy village. However, you do not stand accused of any specific crimes against Konoha. You are also the last of an important shinobi family and carry a valuable bloodline which Konoha would like to maintain." His voice dropped down. "We are prepared to offer you a deal."

Tsunade then stepped forward. "We have a mission for you. Should you succeed, the charge against you will be dropped and you will be allowed to return to full active duty as a Konoha Shinobi. Until the completion of this mission, you will have only the rights of a visitor from a suspect nation and will be under constant surveillance." She put her hands on her hips. "I'm willing to bet that if it weren't for your whacked-out sense of vengeance… er… if such a tragedy had not befallen you, you wouldn't have betrayed the Leaf. Will you accept this mission? Your only other choice is to face judgment."

He looked up, his coal-black eyes held not a glimmer of remorse. "And the penalty is death?" he asked quietly.

"It is."

"I can't die yet."

"Then you accept the terms of the deal?" Homura asked. Sasuke nodded and was instantly released from his bonds.

-----

Sakura worked hard at the hospital. After work every once in a while she would wind her way into the old section of Konoha where the great houses were more like their own villages. At first she'd just stand in front of Sasuke's house. The Uchiha banners, tattered and faded flapped solemnly in the breeze. As far as she knew, for whatever reason, he hadn't moved out. There was however, never a light on.

One day during lunch she braved a knock on the door. When she didn't get an answer, she addressed the house.

"Sasuke? It's Sakura. Just seeing if you wanted… anything." There was no answer.

---

Rather than being discouraged, Sakura became determined. Now she came every day.

"Sasuke, you should see what a beautiful day it is!"

"Sasuke, I made some mochi, if you want some I'll leave it right here."

"Sasuke, I'm going to an onsen with Ino-chan and some of the others, would you like to come?"

---

Fall turned into winter and one day Sakura brought a fresh, still steaming-hot desert with her. "Sasuke? I'm going to leave this for you…" By chance, she tried the door. It was open. "Hello?" she called. Her voice echoed in the empty halls. Although the house seemed devoid of furniture and life, it was warm. She turned the corner and found the kitchen. "I'm going to leave this here. Enjoy it!" she chimed, held her breath and listened. "Ja ne!"

When the door clicked shut footsteps plodded slowly down the stairs. Sasuke leaned in the doorway to the kitchen. An apple pie sat in the middle of the table. He scoffed and went back upstairs.

The next day, Sakura tried the door again and finding it open, she let herself in. "Sasuke?" she asked and entered the kitchen. Her heart did somersaults to see that a small piece of pie was missing. She looked around and took in the clues to his lifestyle. The kitchen was clean, but dust and cobwebs here and there indicated its disuse. She crept toward the refrigerator and took a peek inside. The lack of actual food was far worse than she had expected. Soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Duck sauce, a takeout container and baking soda so old the design on the box was no longer being printed. "Sasuke?" she asked tentatively. "I'm going to go grocery shopping for you, ok?" She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, but once again, heard nothing in reply.

As promised, Sakura returned the following day with a bag of food to add to Sasuke's condiment collection. "If there's anything else you need…" she piped on her way out.

"Stop."

Sakura spun and stared, the wide smile on her face fell instantly at the sight of him. He was barefoot, his eyes were half-lidded. He was thin and disheveled.

"Sasuke!"

"Please stop," he said, his eyes not meeting hers. "Don't come here anymore." He started back up the stairs.

Her chest burned, her brain whirred. "All right," she agreed quietly. "But I'll always be here for you if you need me. Don't ever forget that." She turned and left.

Halfway up the stairs Sasuke slumped against the wall and sat in a heap for nearly a half an hour before he realized she wasn't coming back. Any minute he expected her to rush back in and scream at him, tears pouring down her cheeks. But it didn't happen.

"You've grown…" he muttered. "Why haven't I?"

---

"You saw Sasuke?" Naruto asked between bites of ramen.

Sakura nodded. "Yesterday. He told me to go away. I expected as much, but it still hurt," she said and pushed half a hard-boiled egg around her bowl.

"Well I'm amazed you saw him at all! He's been on missions like constantly and he usually only comes out at night."

Sakura straightened up. The image in her head went from scary-Sasuke to sleepy-Sasuke. "Oh man, I probably woke him up!" She laughed a little to herself and brightened. "Naruto, how do you know so much about Sasuke?"

He hunkered down over his ramen and avoided her eyes. "I _certainly_ had _nothing_ to do with getting him a position on Anbu if that's what you're getting at," he said slyly. "I assume that he only comes out at night 'cause he doesn't want to be seen by anybody."

"Yeah, stupid me," she groaned.

"Hey," Naruto said with a smile. "We've both tried to help him. He's got to know that. That's all we can do 'till he comes around."

"Do you think he ever will, Naruto?"

"So long as we never give up on him." Naruto slurped up the last noodle. "One day, yes. I believe he will.

* * *

**To be Continued... **


	5. Chapter 5  Final

**Honokuni Monogatari - "Fire Country Stories"**

**Uchinaru - "On The Inside"**

**By Aoi Kami Sarah **

**Chapter 5**

For the next three years, that's how it was. After Sasuke told her to stop coming, she never went inside Sasuke's house. However, she often left food she had made at his door or little presents or cards to remind him she was thinking of him. To her relief, rarely were they still there when next she visited.

---

Naruto attained the rank of Jounin, but Sakura never bothered going higher than Chuunin. She worked full time at the hospital and took on the title of Iryou-nin. Her knowledge and skills rivaled that of her teacher, Shizune. Sasuke was still a lone Anbu, working ultra-top-secret missions for Tsunade.

One day when Sakura had been working an especially long shift at the hospital, she took a break and looked out at the rain through a window. She thought it odd that all this time she hadn't so much as seen Sasuke in three long years, not even as a patient at the hospital. While she was musing about how strange this was, an orderly interrupted her. "Sakura-sempai! Come quick! It's Uchiha Sasuke!"

---

Just a few moments before, similar havoc broke out in the administration building. A lone Anbu covered in blood, his mask cracked in half but still affixed, strode down the hall toward the Hokage's office. His left arm was bent in a direction that couldn't be comfortable and in his right he carried something no bigger than a breadbox wrapped in black cloth with a pattern of some kind obscured by dried blood. He was surrounded by a crowd of shinobi who barked at him to stop and explain himself, but he kept walking. When he reached the Hokage's office, he reeled back to kick the door open, but stopped as it gaped for him.

Tsunade sat at her desk. She didn't look up from the paperwork she was doing, even with the commotion coming from the back of her office. The Anbu approached her desk, stopped, lifted his arm and held the bundle out for her inspection. She looked up, stood, unwrapped the thing a little and took a deep breath. "Gokurou," she said. "Good job."

His white knuckles relaxed and he slumped to the ground. In flash a Tsunade was under him to catch him as he fell. She gasped, realizing the seriousness of his injuries and began working on him right there. The crowd at the door looked on, confused and bewildered. "Get this nin to the hospital, _now_!" she shouted.

---

The rain was coming down pretty hard when he returned to the village from a long mission. The buzz was hard to ignore. Something had happened. Something big.

"What's the deal?" Kakashi asked a street merchant as he ducked under an awning in a futile attempt to avoid a further soaking.

"Ah, you shoulda seen it. That Uchiha kid came back from somethin' wicked all banged up. Rumor is he weren't even _conscious _walkin' down the street…!" The shopkeeper stopped and looked around, noticing his audience had vanished.

---

When Sakura entered the ER, everyone turned to her for leadership. "Where is Hokage-sama?" she asked urgently, rushing into action.

"She said you would handle this."

Sakura stared at the scene for a beat before focusing on the task at hand. He was bloody, pale and taller than she remembered. His left eye-socket was dark and covered in dried blood and his arm was very noticeably broken, but that wasn't the worst of his trouble. She nodded and fell in with the team working to save Sasuke's life.

His heart had to be jump-started with a chakra defibrillator twice, but the med team managed to stop the internal bleeding and downgrade him from 'critical' to 'serious-but-stable' condition in a matter of hours.

When Sakura emerged from the ER she was exhausted. She stared at the ground as she walked and for the first time in hours let her emotions return. She pushed the double doors open and headed for the break-room.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted and leapt out of his seat. A copy of Shinobi Weekly fell out of his lap to the floor.

Her scrubs were bloodied and she looked as spent as she felt. She stared blankly at them.

"How is he?" Kakashi asked so quietly it startled her.

"I think we should have him down to 'fair' condition by morning," she said with a soft smile. "All three major bones in his left arm were broken. There was internal bleeding giving him trouble when he came in caused by broken ribs and a punctured lung, there were other various abrasions and he's lost an eye," she said in a breath. "His left."

They were silent. Suddenly it dawned on her that although she was the doctor giving the closest thing to Sasuke's family the news, she was also 'family'. "I'm so glad you guys are here!" she cried and lunged at Naruto and hugged him tightly. Kakashi used the opportunity to put a hand to his face and discretely wipe his eye.

---

When Sasuke came to, it was morning, almost a full 24 hours after his return. His first awareness was pain. The second was that he had completed his mission. He lay very still, letting this idea bounce off the walls of his skull. It was too much. He groaned lightly. The third thing he noticed was that he wasn't alone. Sitting to his right in a chair covered with a blanket and sleeping, but with one of her hands lying over his own, was Sakura. Unlike the last visit to the hospital, there were no restraints. He wiggled his toes and fingers. A wave of pain from his broken left arm shot through him and he sucked in a breath involuntarily.

"Sasuke…?" Sakura asked sleepily. "You're awake!"

He stared at the ceiling. "Aa."

"Do you need anything?" she asked and gave his hand a light squeeze.

"No."

She smiled. At least it wasn't 'go away', she thought. "I'm going to get some tea. I'll be right back." Her heart pounded. She was elated that he was all right, but nervous about breaking the news to him about his missing eye. The rumors were wild with speculation as to who took it. She just prayed that whoever had beaten Sasuke so badly suffered 10 times that, if only for Sasuke's sake.

When she returned, he'd gone out the second story window.

---

Sasuke leaned against a wall in an alley not 100 yards from the hospital and took short quick breaths. He had been healed enough to survive, but his lung was still tender and his arm was still broken. The pain coursed up and down it in intolerable waves and forced him to remember what he'd been through the day before.

There had been four of them, all Akatsuki. Two large ones, a small one and one further away he was sure was his target. Getting through the first two had been relatively easy, but the big one broke his lower arm. Once they had been dispatched, the shark-like Kisame swung his chakra-sucking sword at him. Switching to a combination of Sharingan and Taijutsu had made quick work of the impressive outlaw. Then he stood face to face with his only brother, Itachi.

---

He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Sasuke, come back to the hospital," Sakura asked, standing in the mouth of the alleyway. He sighed and pushed off the wall. The late morning light was dazzling so he put his back to it. "You aren't ready to be released yet, you know that."

"I know," he muttered and shook his head slightly. It swam. She seemed to glow. He trained his eyes on solid ground.

Sakura didn't want to broach the subject, but she desperately needed small talk. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more for your eye."

He reached up and touched the bandage. Some of the day before came back to him. He remembered the warmth of her healing powers. "That was you…"

"When you came in it was such a mess and…"

"There was nothing there to save. He took it." Sakura sucked in a breath in shock. Sasuke closed his remaining eye. "I did it, Sakura. I killed my brother."

---

He had fought harder than he had ever fought before. He had expected to. For more than ten years he had tried to prepare himself for that day. He trained as a Genin. He betrayed his home and trained with evil. He knew how lucky he was to be alive and in relative control of his life and destiny.

When he reached the four Akatsuki members (two more than he had expected to run into) the idea that he could die without succeeding ran his blood cold. Failure was not an option. He had to do this. For his mother and father. For all the other Uchiha, innocent and guilty who were slaughtered. Fighting for people long dead suddenly felt very empty. What did his life mean to him that he was experiencing such fear of death? He threw his soul away when he agreed to become Orochimaru's host. He threw his freedom away when he allowed himself to be captured by the Leaf. So why was this any different?

"I can't die yet," he breathed.

"I had heard you were back with the Leaf. What a lovely costume they've given you. I used to have one just like it," Itachi commented coolly. "Are you strong enough yet, foolish little brother? Or has three years back in Konoha turned you to mush?"

Three years. Had it really been that long? What had he been doing? Had he gotten any stronger? Naruto and Sakura had both gotten stronger for his sake. Sasuke's mind whirled. How many chances like that had he missed? What chances had he been given? If he had let Orochimaru take him, he wouldn't have been consciously aware even if Orochimaru did kill Itachi. If Tsunade hadn't made a deal with him to search and destroy S-rank missing nin Uchiha Itachi, if Naruto hadn't found him a position on the Anbu squad, if Sakura hadn't…

"Sakura," Sasuke whispered.

"What's that?" Itachi asked, narrowing his eyes.

"If I don't make it, all that stuff will just pile up in front of the door," he mumbled. "The letters and cards and mochi and pie and all that. What will she do if I don't come home again?"

"A girl? You're joking."

"I can't do this for myself," Sasuke unsheathed the standard-issue Anbu sword from his back and pointed it at his brother. "I don't give a shit about myself. You taught me to do that so well, so I'll do this for her!"

---

Sakura started at his back and lifted her hand to reach out to him. She balled her fist and lowered the hand. "Was that the mission?"

"Yes."

"So it's over?"

"Yes," he said. His shoulders slumped a little. "It's over and now… Now I don't know what to do."

Trying not to seem astounded that Sasuke sounded on the verge of tears, Sakura took a deep breath before answering. "Live."

"For what?"

"Yourself," she answered. "You've lived for revenge for so long, perhaps you've forgotten about yourself. You decide what to do from here on out. It's up to you."

His longish black locks swayed back and forth as he shook his head slightly. 'How is it that she's grown so much, and I'm still the same?' he thought.

Her hand reached out again, this time it came to rest on his shoulder. "Tsunade-sama said she wanted to heal your arm herself when she talks to you," she whispered. "But I can take the pain away."

A shock ran through Sasuke's body. He couldn't remember the last time he'd let someone touch him outside of combat. His head bowed. "Please," he whispered in reply and turned to face her. His brow was pinched tightly, his lower lip trembled. His coal-black eye shone with tears. Sakura ignored all of this and put her hands on his left arm, easing the strain from the broken bones below.

He was about six feet tall now and she was only around 5'5". It was easy to avoid eye contact just by staring at his chest. "We should go back…" she started to say, but Sasuke bowed his head even further. He buried his face in her shoulder, sobbing quietly.

"I'm so sorry for everything I've put you through," he said. "I don't know why you're still here…"

"Shhhhh," she shushed him and put her arms around him gently. "You never listen. I told you, I will always be here for you. I love you, Sasuke." They stood there like that for a moment before he lifted his good arm and returned the gesture. It was a few moments more before they returned to the hospital.

---

Tsunade was waiting for them. Sakura explained that Sasuke had wanted to get some air. The Hokage didn't question her further. The young woman excused herself to get some tea as hers had gone quite cold, allowing Tsunade to inquire about his mission.

Sakura walked down the hall, her heart light and a peaceful smile on her lips. She wandered to the reception desk with the idea of ordering some flowers from Yamanaka's. Early afternoon light poured in through the main doors. She sighed, her mind floating on a cloud, and leaned on the desk.

"Uh, Sakura-san?" the receptionist cleared her throat and pushed her glasses up her nose. "You have some visitors."

"Oh! Naruto! Kakashi! What are you doing here?" she asked, surprised that she didn't notice them earlier.

"It is visiting hours, isn't it?" Naruto chimed.

"How's he doing?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura's smile stretched from ear to ear.

---

Tsunade closed her notebook. "Alright, that should do it," she said with a kind smile and stood. "You've successfully completed your mission. As per the terms of the agreement, you are hereby re-admitted as a Konoha Anbu Member, Jounin rank." She handed him a small package. "Welcome back, Sasuke."

Lying in his hospital bed fully healed but exhausted, he reached over and took it from her. "Tadaima," he replied.

---

By the time Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi got to the room, Tsunade had left. Sakura opened the door. Sasuke lay in bed, snoring lightly, his right eye closed and his left protected by a shiny new Konoha hitai-ate.

The three other members of team seven exchanged relieved glances. Sakura promised them that she would tell Sasuke that they had stopped by when he woke. She sipped her tea and sat down in her chair at his bedside. She picked up a book in her right hand and placed her left over his right.

"Thank you," he whispered softly, gave her hand a squeeze and fell into a deep and relaxing sleep.

* * *

**END.**


End file.
